Incredible Things Can Be Accomplished Through Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is all the rage these days, with as recently as last week the much anticipated Veronica Mars movie hitting theaters after being funded almost entirely by fans eager to pitch in. But while sites like Kickstarter can be great for passion projects like that film, the people looking for funds are often doing absolutely incredible things. There are some truly amazing inventions and innovations being created thanks to Kickstarter and other such crowdfunding sites, like these amazing examples right here.

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7.

The Arkyd Space Telescope

If there’s ever been a Kickstarter project for those fans of space who would never, ever be able to get access to, say, the Hubble or any other such space telescope, it’s the Arkyd project. The Arkyd 100 is not only crowd funded, but it’s meant to be used by, frankly, anyone who wants to pay a little bit to use it. Of course when we say “a little bit” we mean several thousand dollars, but still. The Arkyd is a fully robotic orbiting space telescope that is designed to take high resolution photos of objects and planets deep into space. One of the prizes for contributing was having a space selfie taken, which just kind of makes us shake our heads, but hey – any chance to have your picture displayed on an LED screen in outer space, and have the telescope then take a picture of your face orbiting the planet is going to be your best opportunity to win the selfie game forever.

6.

The Buccaneer 3D Printer

Let’s be honest, 3D printing is one of the coolest inventions to come along in quite a while. It can be used for numerous purposes, including the ways it has begun to revolutionize the medical industry by giving doctors the ability to print stints as well as full on artificial limbs. But as cool as 3D printers are, it’s incredibly difficult to get your hands on one. That’s where the Buccaneer 3D Printer comes in, or at least, that’s the goal. The printer is designed with the home user in mind, so that as long as the average Joe has enough money to buy one – and they Kickstarter campaign states they will be available at affordable prices, which on the Kickstarter page is listed at $347 – they can print out awesome 3D toys and, let’s face it, since this is the internet, probably pornographic objects. And hey, it’s WiFi and cloud enabled!

5.

The LIFX Light Bulb

Along with a better mousetrap, one of the things you always hear people wishing someone would invent a better version of is a light bulb. That’s where the LIFX light bulb comes in. Funded through Kickstarter, the LIFX actually is a better, more efficient, longer lasting light bulb. Even better than that, it’s a “smart” light bulb that is also WiFi enabled. You can actually control not just the on and off switch of this light bulb from your phone, but also the color of the light, along with the brightness level. Oh, and that whole longer lasting part we mentioned? Yeah, the LIFX is designed to last up to 40,000 hours. In case you don’t want to do the math, that equates to 27 years.

4.

The Omni: Full Body Virtual Reality

Virtual reality has been the so-called “wave of the future” for years, without anything ever actually coming of it. It’s always been one of those things that seems like it would be really cool, but the few real attempts at creating virtual reality video games have been awkward at best, as you wear an uncomfortable helmet or pair of goggles or whatever and, let’s be honest, it’s far from being an immersive experience. The Omni, however, is aiming to change that and make virtual reality a, well, reality. The Omni is a full body experience, and is basically a treadmill that allows you to completely immerse yourself in a video game and control every little movement that your character makes. The Omni has that name, by the way, because it’s an “omnidirectional treadmill.” Just in case you were curious.